Monday, May 22, 2017

Disgusted with Rajapaksa regime’s senseless persecution, the island’s Muslims as a whole voted for Maithri-Ranil team in the hope they meant their election promises to end racist attacks and usher in an era of peace.

People trusted and expected the two to fulfil their pledges and deal with Bodu Bala Sena General Secretary Ven. Galagoda atte Gnanasara Thero for his crimes against Muslims. However Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakhse said that “Ven Gnanasara Thero will not be taken to custody”.

Adding insult to injury President Sirisena invited Ven. Gnanasara Thero to attend a meeting of religious heads and elevated this man of violence to level of respectability? By these actions the President and Minister Rajapakshe left the Muslims wondering whether they could expect justice from this government.

Today government remains indifferent to attacks on Muslims by BBS led racists who have raised their ugly heads once again to such an extent that many suspects they get the government to implement their designs on Muslims. This week he has once again insulted Allah with police protection in Polonnaruwa.

As a result Muslims who also played crucial role to bring this government to power ask whether they voted for this government to power to continue racist attacks on them. Harassing Muslims have become order of the day .The state machinery is suspected to be hand in glove with them.

For example racist elements tried to prevent Muslim refugees evicted by LTTE from returning to their lands in Musali and adjacent areas. Implementing their agenda the government gazetted Muslim villages adjacent to Wilpattu National Park on Friday 24 march 2017, as part of the nearly 100,000 acre lands, declaring as “conservative forest” with immediate effect.

This was done, in such hurry that it was signed during president Sirisena’s official visit to Russia despite Muslims submitting documentary evidence to their lands.

Racists also turned their attention to Amparai district where they erected a Buddha statue at Maayakkalli hilltop on 27 October 2016 adjacent to Tamil-Muslim area of Maanikkamadu in Rakkamam district.This only serves to provoke Sinhalese against Muslims.

Now Ven. Gnanasara Thero and his gang grabbed a plot of Muslim owned land adjacent to this statue by force and started clearing to build a vihara to protect the Buddha statute.

This land is owned by a Muslim, Palliyan Zainudeen, and the justice under the government is such that he cannot go to his own land. They point out that usually in all such cases first the statue comes, then comes the vihare followed by military post, colonizing the area with Sinhalese brought from outside and set up government offices to legitimize these illegal colonization .The question is what lesson these trouble creators learnt from the racist politics which caused the 30 year destructive war?.

This in fact is the Rajapaksa program of Sinhalisation of Tamil-Muslim lands under which 86 places in the east were gazette on 10 October 2014 as archaeological sites.